Jackson Roberts Articles - Page 4

The first month of the 2024 MLB season was very kind to the Philadelphia Phillies. After a somewhat sluggish 8-8 start, they exploded, winning 13 of their next 16 and becoming the first team to 20 wins, 21-11 in total at the start of play Friday night. And before we jump all the way in […]

Every weekend in the MLB feels like a new opportunity. School and work are out, the stadiums are full and all 30 teams have the chance to make a statement. And at the end of 15 hard-fought matchups, we get to take a step back and assess where everyone is at the end of another chapter […]

Even in the first week of May, there are certain series during the Major League Baseball regular season that carry a little extra weight. Divisional grudge matches, in particular, can both establish a pecking order and set the tone for the rivalry the rest of the season. And this week, baseball got a treat. The […]

The mood has been somber around Major League Baseball this week, as the news of yet another devastating injury to megastar Mike Trout has deprived the game of one of its most electrifying talents yet again. Trout is still tied for the MLB lead with ten home runs and was stealing bases like he was […]

Major League Baseball at its best is a game of superstars. In an era where every night is an open competition for viewers, the sport thrives on big names like Shohei Ohtani, Aaron Judge and Elly De La Cruz achieving jaw-dropping feats of athleticism and creating memorable moments. But over a 162-game MLB season, there’s […]

Ever since the glorious curse-breaking year of 2016, the Chicago Cubs have been a quiet franchise. It’s hard to get upset about an eight-year title drought when you’ve just seen one a century longer, but the mood around Wrigley Field was starting to get a little restless, particularly when the Cubbies lost 12 of their […]

It’s the final day of what has been a tremendously entertaining first month-plus in this Major League Baseball season, so it’s a perfect time to start looking ahead to awards season. The best in the game have come to play in 2024 and although what they really want is to be on lists like these […]

Monday morning was something of a national holiday for baseball uniform junkies, as the Tampa Bay Rays became the 23rd team to unveil their City Connect jerseys. And to the Rays’ credit, they did not play it safe with their designs, which feature, among other things, a nightclub-like color scheme, a ray on the hat in the […]

At its core, baseball is a game of peaks and valleys. Even the best to ever play the game are going to struggle from time to time. But if you’re going to pick and choose when the struggles come, the beginning of the season is one of the least opportune times. Reigning NL Rookie of […]

After a half-decade of absolute misery, the Baltimore Orioles are close to achieving baseball nirvana. They’ve got exciting young talent galore, a sold-out gorgeous ballpark every night and new ownership that seems hell-bent on putting together a contender. The entire world seems like it’s at the O’s fingertips. But there’s one significant problem for the […]

The Major League Baseball season is chugging along at full speed now, and we’re starting to find out who’s come to play ball versus who’s simply come to collect their checks. This week brought some long streaks, both winning and losing, and those swings in record are reflected by some big shakeups in the middle […]

The first month of the 2024 season has been anything but boring for the San Diego Padres. Already they’ve had a trip overseas, some huge comebacks and equally disappointing collapses. So far, they’ve come out on the wrong side of .500 at 14-16. It’s still awfully early, so the Padres have ample time to turn […]

Life is never easy for a Los Angeles Angels fan. Every year comes with different expectations, yet the result somehow always seems to be a letdown. When the team is expected to contend, they fall apart. Yet when a rebuild seems in order, the organization tries desperately to set itself up to win now instead. […]

If you correctly predicted that the Cleveland Guardians would have the best record in the American League on April 26, it might be time to buy that lottery ticket you’ve been eyeing at the checkout counter. Just six months removed from a 76-win season, the Guardians are 18-7, have lost only one series all season […]

Any hopes the St. Louis Cardinals might have had that their abysmal 2023 season was fully a thing of the past have already begun to fade. The Redbirds are off to an 11-14 start, last place in the National League Central, with the third-worst run differential in the NL at -26. There’s time yet to […]

Every offseason in MLB, the game’s brightest minds spend nearly six months building their perfect projections for the coming year. Then every April, a select group of players comes along to bust those projections into smithereens. Padres rising star Jackson Merrill has been a clear example. The hot April start is one of the great […]

The last time the Houston Astros were 11 games below .500, the world was captivated by the death of Harambe the gorrilla, “One Dance” was at the top of the charts and future World Series MVP Jeremy Peña was a freshman at Maine. The way things were going for the past decade, it sure seemed […]

Kevin Gausman thought he’d done his job. He induced a weak ground ball from Kyle Isbel to third baseman Isaiah Kiner-Falefa to get out of a jam in the top of the fifth, with the Toronto Blue Jays clinging to a 2-0 lead. Kiner-Falefa hurled it across the diamond, right on target. Five minutes later, […]

It’s often said that baseball is a game of failure. Hall of Fame hitters fail to reach base about 60% of the time. The best closers in history still blow a ninth-inning lead a handful of times a year. But there are supposed to be limits on just how much a single team can fail. […]

One of the time-honored traditions of the Major League Baseball season is slamming the late-April panic button. The Houston Astros are 6-17, so perhaps their reign of dominance in the American League is over. Blake Snell has been lit up in his three starts with the San Francisco Giants, so perhaps both Snell and the […]

Monday night, a series with a potential National League Wild Card feel to it kicked off at Great American Ball Park. The Cincinnati Reds have been playing some of their best ball lately, led by a surge from ever-improving Elly De La Cruz. The offense went wild in a weekend sweep of the Los Angeles […]

There are a few sure signs that a MLB season is heating up. The sun is finally starting to peek out from behind the clouds. The game’s best players are chasing after new records. And New York Yankees manager Aaron Boone is delivering fantastic ejections for social media pioneers to break down. Monday afternoon, Boone […]

With three weeks gone in this 2024 Major League Baseball season, the picture is starting to come into focus. Good teams are racking up wins, surprise hot-starters are coming back to earth and bottom-feeders are already waiting for September. Where did your team land in this week’s MLB Power Rankings? Read on to find out. […]

Early in a Major League Baseball season, the headlines are constantly dominated by the big names, both in terms of players and teams. Shohei Ohtani breaking records in Los Angeles. The New York Yankees returning to prominence. And while we all look the other way, there are some very good baseball teams quietly proving they’re […]

Sometimes, the start of a new Major League Baseball season is so exciting that we forget it’s just that: a start. No sport more strongly signifies the phrase, “It’s a marathon, not a sprint.” Especially not marathons, which can be run in the time it takes to play about 0.6% of a full MLB season. […]

There’s no worse feeling in sports than a deep, dark slump in the batter’s box. With MLB games being played almost every day, once you start struggling, it feels like there’s no place to hide. One bad game can turn into five almost instantly and before long, fans are calling for you to be benched, […]

On Friday night at Oracle Park, nestled along the shores of the San Francisco Bay, the Arizona Diamondbacks and San Francisco Giants will play the second of a four-game series in mid-April. On the surface, it’s two teams off to mediocre starts battling for third place in their division. But anyone who followed Major League […]

As a fan, there’s nothing worse than trying to work up enthusiasm for a team that has nothing going for it. Baseball, by nature of being an everyday sport, has some of the most dedicated fans in all of sport. Even if a team isn’t expected to be good, a diehard baseball fan can find […]

One of the best parts of MLB is watching young players come into their own and establishing themselves as stars. The game is so difficult and the seasons are so grueling that finding a spark can be remarkably tough, even for prospects that come up with all-world expectations. Yet, in 2024, there’s a big group […]

The Baltimore Orioles are hotter than a furnace inside the Earth’s core right now. They’ve won six of eight, have climbed right back to the top of the American League East and are leading Major League Baseball with 30 home runs in just 18 games. With a lineup chock-full of homegrown young stars, they’re must-watch […]

Ah, the dreaded World Series hangover. You’re on top of the world, you’re jet-setting around making public appearances, you’ve still practically got confetti in your hair from the parade, then the season starts and you’ve got to try and do it all over again. And in the case of the Texas Rangers, you’ve got to […]

It’s been an exciting April thus far on the North Side of Chicago. The beloved Chicago Cubs are 10-6 after a stirring win in Phoenix on Monday, exciting new contributors are popping up all over the roster, and under new manager Craig Counsell, the vibes seem to be pretty superb. And not only are the […]

For the past two years, it has seemed like the Philadelphia Phillies don’t start caring about their baseball games until late summer at the earliest, and really only turn up the intensity when the playoffs officially begin. If the team’s 9-8 start with a -12 run differential is any indication, it could be a while […]

For fans of a wide array of Major League Baseball teams this year, Christmas is arriving in April. More so than ever before, it seems, MLB teams are quickly allowing their top prospects to make their debuts early in the season, rather than waiting for some arbitrary deadline or being overcautious with their players’ preparation […]

On April 15, 1947, exactly 77 years ago, a Georgia native named Jack Roosevelt Robinson became the first black man to play a Major League Baseball game since 1889. It’s a date that looms as one of the most significant moments in MLB history and is now deservedly marked by ceremony each and every year, […]

Another tumultuous week across Major League Baseball is certainly reflected in this week’s MLB Power Rankings. Some teams are hitting their strides, some seem destined to hover around .500 and in the case of the Miami Marlins, some just aren’t showing up for the 2024 MLB season in the first place. We’re still at an […]

Sometimes it’s fun, in the middle of the never-ending baseball season, to imagine what Major League Baseball might be like if the schedule was structured like the National Football League. Instead of the Cleveland Guardians taking an overnight flight to play in Boston on Marathon Monday, what if these MLB teams had a week to […]

Well, it happened. Every fan in the state of Georgia’s worst fears have been confirmed. Saturday, the Atlanta Braves confirmed their ace pitcher Spencer Strider, coming off a season where he set a new franchise record with 276 strikeouts, had undergone season-ending Tommy John surgery. In their quest to right the wrongs of last season’s […]

Imagine telling someone in October 2021 that in less than 1,000 days, defending NL MVP and World Series champ Freddie Freeman and soon-to-be AL MVP Shohei Ohtani would play on the same baseball team. Oh, and that team happens to also have Mookie Betts, who would be playing shortstop. It would be impressive if that […]